The was weather more favorable than of recent and what could have been expected, but still the IL Ciocco resort mountain had enough snow and ice to challenge the worlds best extreme riders, race day would see mild temperatures with some sunshine.
Having made his debut one year earlier and gaining a top 10 finish Jonny was fortunate to have earned a seeded starting position, being number 4. The qualifying race started at 07.00 hours Saturday morning, still in the dark our Trailtech lights were needed on the first lap, 5 laps of just over 1 hour each would be the order with a special test on each lap except the opening lap.
The circuit had no real challenges for Jonny and he rode without risk or using unnecessary energy, trying to save himself and the bike for the night race. Jonny made light work of the special tests and rode well within his ability to make 4 safe results, his only issue was catching the slower riders in front, but at the end of the morning session he had a clear 40 second advantage over 2nd placed Jarvis. From the morning race the top 30 from 100 starters would qualify for the night stage, first place gave Jonny pole position for the Hells
Gate Extreme Enduro.
The end of the morning Enduro had just over 20 minutes to service the bike, fit new tyres and fit the special lights for the night . Jonny as expected took the holeshot and controlled the race at the front for most of the lap climbing up the mountain, on the decent he made a mistake and Jarvis passed and then when he dropped into one of the long steep river decents he found that his bike kept stalling because of the slow speeds, the tickover was just to low although had been fine for the faster morning race it was now a small but costly interference, after the first lap he was trailing Jarvis by 90 seconds.
OMidway through the 2nd lap Jonny crashed off the track down a very steep banking and got the bike so stuck that he thought his race was over, eventually he managed to get back up to the course but it had cost him more than 3 minutes. Now trailing Jarvis by over 4 minutes he made a pitstop for fuel and to adjust the carb, on lap 3 he set off with more confidence and managed to gain back more than 2 minutes on Graham.
Going into the 4th lap less than 2 minute separated the pair and at the end of the lap when he stopped for his second and final pitstop it looked possible that Jonny may catch Graham if he continued his pace, but Jarvis also responded and upped his game. The course being as brutal as ever was also quite fast which meant the leading riders pulled out quite a large lead early on, Walker and Jarvis set a pace that no other riders could follow, this meant that many riders would time out at the checkpoint, because if you fall 30 minutes behind the leader it is thank you and Ciao !!, With only a handful of riders still in the race and darkness closing in the organisers decided that 5 laps would be enough, just 4 riders started the last lap !!
Result Overall morning race
1. Jonny Walker SHR KORR KTM 300 EXC
2. Graham Jarvis Husaberg 300 TE
3. Alesandro Botturi KTM 250 EXC
Hells Gate Extreme Enduro
1. Graham Jarvis Husaberg 300 TE
2. Jonny Walker SHR KORR KTM 300 EXC
3. Xavier Galindo Husaberg 300 T
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